Apple made a net profit of $53bn (£42.9bn) in the 2015 financial year. It claims that it has paid 26% tax on worldwide earnings, although most of that is in the US.

The tech giant, Apple, claimed that it was “singled out” as a “convenient target”, with Ireland also claiming that EU regulators were “interfering” with national sovereignty.

Ireland’s finance ministry said in a statement on Monday that the European Commission had “misunderstood the relevant facts and Irish law. That Ireland did not give favourable tax treatment to Apple – the full amount of tax was paid in this case and no state aid was provided

Apple issued a lengthy statement that said that it was the largest taxpayer in the world, in the US and in Ireland. It said if the EU ruling went against it, the company would pay 40% of all the corporate taxes collected in Ireland.

A spokesperson for Apple said that as most of the products and services are created, designed and engineered in the US, that’s where most of the tax is paid, that “this case has never been about how much tax Apple pays, it’s about where that tax is paid.”

A general counsel for Apple, Bruce Sewell, told the Reuters news agency that the commission had disregarded tax experts brought in by Irish authorities.

Sewell said: “Apple is not an outlier in any sense that matters to the law. Apple is a convenient target because it generates lots of headlines.”